Thursday, December 21, 2017

A new survey of more than 300 consumers conducted by Sonoma State University's Wine Business Institute (and published on professor Liz Thach's web site here) says consumers do indeed value organic and Biodynamic certification. And surprisingly, the certification that most think is the most obscure - Biodynamic - came out ahead of organic, which is a household word.

The first question in the report focused on what interested consumers most and, while it's not surprising, with the definitions provided, that sustainable comes out ahead, what is truly remarkable is that Biodynamics comes out at 36 percent - a mere 8 percent behind sustainability. Given that hardly anyone knows what Biodynamics means - and if they think they do, they usually associate it with moonbeams and a certain Austrian philosopher - this is nothing short of incredible.

The big news here is that 56 percent of the surveyed consumers prefer organic or Biodynamic standards to the wine industry's heavily marketed "certified sustainable" category.

COSTS
The survey went into consumers' willingness to pay more for ecocertified wines, a topic which is not on many people's minds because right now there is no price premium consumers pay for certified wines. However, it may be an important motivator for growers who don't think there is a marketplace reward for what some think will be more costly farming practices.

(The version of the article that pops up on Google omits the cost chart.)

What is still outstanding for most growers is the understanding of how much it costs for them to farm organically or Biodynamically - costs which usually boil down to two main issues:

1. mechanical weed control (organic) versus using glyphosate, a carcinogenic herbicide that is permitted and widely used by "sustainable" and conventional growers. Glyphosate will be banned in France in 3 years and its use has been restricted in Italy and the UK.

2. fungicides mixed with imidacloprid (a bird and bee toxin banned in the UK and Europe to protect bee health)

Meanwhile wineries that grow organically or Biodynamically charge no more for their wines - in each price and quality point - than their competitors - even though the chart below suggests that people would be willing to pay more.

I'm interested in talking to the authors of the study about their research and hope to publish more about the survey findings here soon.

Wines We Cover

We publish information about wines grown from certified organic or Biodynamic vineyards that are generally made with sulfites (which are usually added in small amounts to preserve the wine).

That includes these certification types:

ORGANIC WINE CERTIFICATIONS

• Made with Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites (i.e. a normal range)

Winery: certified organic facility

Labeling: front or back label

• Ingredients: Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: up to 350 ppm of sulfites (same as for any non organic wine)

Labeling: back label only

BIODYNAMIC® CERTIFICATIONS

• Biodynamic Wine

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; no additives of any kind

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back label; Demeter logo may appear

• Made with Biodynamic Grapes

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native or organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; limited number of additives permitted

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back

Note: unlike organically grown wines, for which there is a category called "Ingredients: Organic Grapes," wines sourced from biodynamic grapes may not make any biodynamic claim on the bottle label. Bottle labeling is reserved for Demeter certified wines only.

SULFITES IN CONTEXT

According to U.C. Davis, the average among all wines in the U.S. (as well as globally) is 80 ppm.

WHAT THE USDA CALLS ORGANIC WINES

Unlike any other nation, the U.S. oddly imposes a no sulfite restriction on wines in order for them to be called Organic Wine. These wines are also called NSA or NAS wines (which stands for "No Sulfites Added" or "No Added Sulfites.")

From the above description, one can see that there are in fact three types of organically grown wines:

1. Organic Wine (less than 15% of all organically grown wine)

2. Made with Organic Grapes

3. Ingredients: Organic Grapes

The vast majority of wines from organic grapes are labeled Made with Organic Grapes, Ingredients: Organic Grapes or are blended with nonorganic grapes and unlabeled.

Fine winemakers do not generally make wine without sulfites and a number of large wine retailers like BevMo do not sell wine in the category of "USDA Organic Wine."

With rare exceptions, this blog does not cover what the USDA calls "Organic Wine."

We are hopeful that the USDA will revise the categorization of organically grown wines and make NSA or NAS wines a category of their own.

This would put the U.S. in accord with the rest of the world, where "Organic Wine" means a wine from certified grapes made within limits on sulfites (generally under 100-150 ppm).